Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Heavy Pen
For multiple carbon copies
  (+7)
(+7) 		  [vote for,
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Ever tried to read anything past about the third copy of a set of four or five carbons? Virtually impossible, unless you were lucky enough to find one filled in by a gorilla (in which case you can't read the writing anyway).

Make really really heavy pens for use with these carbon (or NCR) sets. That way, people can't help but press hard.

The weight would need to be concentrated in the nib end of the pen, otherwise it would be impossible to use...

Also, I wondered about using magnets: place a correspondingly sized magnet under the form to be filled in and make sure teh pen's magnetic - again, only at the nib end though.

kmlabs, Mar 15 2005


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       I'd also be interested in the self-defense/ninja applications of this pen. Weighted at the nib would probably provide for good flight characteristics if one had to throw it like a dart.
Soterios, Mar 15 2005
   

       A tattoo needle would make it through to the fifth copy.
FarmerJohn, Mar 15 2005
   

       You could make the ball in a ballpoint out of matter from the centre of a neutron star. It would need a fairly strong casing to stop it from exploding, but it would be heavy and sufficiently small.
wagster, Mar 15 2005
   

       And would definitely leave a mark if you threw it at somebody.
Soterios, Mar 15 2005
   

       Wouldn't everything stick to that though?   

       And if you accidentally fell on it, would you be sucked through into a parallel universe where everything looks... not quite right somehow...
kmlabs, Mar 16 2005
   

       Threw it? How?
david_scothern, Mar 16 2005
   

       With a cleverly modified and enhanced chin-stroking device, of course.
Soterios, Mar 16 2005
   

       I may have rather underestimated the density of matter in neutron stars. I assumed that as the ballbearings in ballpoints are so tiny they wouldn't be *that* heavy. Probably too heavy to lift, but not insanely heavy. I have done some quick numbers and found out how wrong I was.   

       The ballbearing in a ballpoint weighs about .001g. If you made it out of neutron star matter it would weigh roughly 37,500 tonnes. That's too heavy for any pen that I'd buy, but you'd get a nice nebula if you dropped it.
wagster, Mar 16 2005
   

       Woohoo! I have had a lifelong inability to push through to all copies. How much weight are we talking about putting in?
Noexit, Mar 16 2005
   

       To be honest [Noexit] I didn't put too much thought into how heavy the pen would be, although at a guess I expect it would need to be somewhere between .001g and 37,500 tonnes...
kmlabs, Mar 17 2005
   

       Tell you what though, 37,500 tonnes in a pen would make an excellent weapon: the Bunker Busting Ballpoint.
david_scothern, Mar 17 2005
   

       //would you be sucked through into a parallel universe where everything looks... not quite right somehow// <HHGTTG> There is a theory that this has already happened.   

       It would be a bugger to clip onto one's top pocket.
zen_tom, Mar 17 2005
   

       I'm afraid, with a heavy pen, I would have to write cursive.   

       I like the idea of a pen with an electromagnet below it, the magnet would be turned on and off by a button on the side of the pen where your fingers rest. then i could write print! (and not draw lines between words)
RBStimers, Mar 17 2005
   

       Ultrasonic engraver
Ling, Mar 17 2005
   

       In accordance with Newton's laws of motion, the user of the heavy pen would tend to cross his/her t's with lines that went on too long, and the expense of replacing clipboards perforated to pieces by dotting one's i's might become prohibitive.
Soterios, Mar 17 2005
   


 
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